Security Branch of South Africa (SWM)
The Security Branch is a branch of the government of the Republic of South Africa which is responsible for the internal and external security and intelligence related affairs of the country. It was formed in 2002 as an amalgamation of the country's civilian security services and acts essentially as an overarching regulatory and policy agency. Unlike other government departments, which are led by ministers, the Security Branch is led by the Secretary of Security (currently SC Vermeulen), who answers directly to the State President. The State President himself is heavily involved with the Security Branch and has regularly taken personal charge of the branch. History The precursor to the Security Branch, the Special Branch of the South African Police (SAP), was established in 1947 partially as a response to the beginning of the . It had 68 officers in the beginning. With the 's commitment to , the election of the first communist to the South African Parliament in that year concerned many in the government. Special Branch was meant to be an investigation division within the police that investigated and combated political activities of a treasonous or seditious -- usually communist -- nature. Special Branch was also tasked with analyzing threats against the State and the political constitution of South Africa, and to identify information needs. Major General , then-Commissioner of the SAP, appointed Major HL du Plooy as the first head of the branch. Du Plooy and his senior officers were trained in the from 1948 onward. From 1950, the branch's official name was changed to Security Branch, however the "Special Branch" name stuck, and the branch is still referred to as such on occasion today. During the course of and after the and the ensuing uprising in March 1960, the branch's power grew considerably as the Minister of Justice, , sought to crack down on political opponents of Apartheid. General was appointed head of the Security Branch in 1963. In May 1966, Van den Bergh claimed that the branch's power had trebled in the previous three years. In September 1968, Van den Bergh was made the chief security advisor to the Prime Minister, putting him in charge of the country's whole intelligence community, including the intelligence branches in the armed forces. The branch's power was again heavily expanded during the in 1976. The political violence of the 1980s and the establishment of the national security state under Prime Minister (and later State President) again saw the Security Branch rising to prominence. Major General PJ Coetzee succeeded Van den Bergh as head of the Security Branch, and was promoted to Lieutenant General in 1981. His promotion effectively marked the moment the the Security Branch became equal with the two other branches of the SAP -- the Uniform Branch (led by Lieutenant General HG de Witt) and the Detective Branch (led by Lieutenant General CF Zietsman). At this time the branch consisted of six divisions: *Section A: Gathering and analyzing of information *Section B: Human resources *Section C: Counter-terrorism *Section D: Intelligence Unit *Section E: Investigation Unit *Section F: Technical Unit South Africa's border control and explosives units also came under the command of Security Branch during the 1980s. By the late decade, the branch consisted of about 4,100 members, with journalists and opposition politicians labeling Security Branch as a "law unto itself". In the early 1990s, the National Party government, now led by moderate State President , began dismantling the Security Branch, with a view to transforming it into the "Crime Combating and Investigation Service" within the SAP. It was to have significantly fewer powers, as part of the NP's democratization agenda. This was to take place sometime in 1994, the year of South Africa's first multi-racial democratic elections. The Security Branch's top brass, however, having committed themselves for so long to upholding South Africa's system of "Separate Development", strongly opposed the government's equivalence and compromises with African nationalists. The release of prominent terrorists like from prison especially angered the branch. President De Klerk, despite commanding the sympathies of some in the regular police, was never seen to be a friend to Security Branch. In February 1994, the Security Branch in cooperation with other uniformed services arrested several high government officials, including De Klerk, citing electoral fraud and in some cases treason. This paved the way for the rise of the Conservative Party to power, and is said to have been narrow avoidance of South Africa becoming a multi-racial democracy. It also avoided Security Branch being dismantled. In 1996, during the presidency of ST Dussen, Security Branch was detached from the South African Police and organized into an autonomous special law enforcement agency reporting directly to the State President. In 2001, the Security Branch was formally reorganized into an expanded and advanced cluster of law enforcement, intelligence, and counter-terrorism organizations. This was done in terms of the Security Branch Act, which fundamentally overhauled South Africa's national security community. The Secretary of Security, a kind of 'super-minister', was in terms of the Act to be the head of all security-related affairs and activities within the Republic, with the exception of the military. Organization The Security Branch is led by the Secretary of Security who presides over the State Security Council (SSC). The Secretary on advise and consent of the State President appoints several Deputy Ministers, who also make out part of the SSC's upper echelons, who oversee and administrative specific functionary areas. The various Deputy Ministers are currently: *Deputy Minister for Law and Order **The Deputy Minister of Security for Law and Order is an important political appointee in the Security Branch. He is responsible for overseeing the administration of justice and the combating of ordinary crime. The subsidiaries responsible to him are chiefly the South African Police Force and the five Offices of the Attorneys General (who prosecute offenders). *Deputy Minister for Prisons and Correctional Policy **The Deputy Minister of Security for Prisons and Correctional Policy is responsible for the implementation and management of correctional and prison services throughout the country. He is responsible for the oversight and administration of the Correctional Services Bureau. *Deputy Minister for State Intelligence **The Deputy Minister of Security for State Intelligence is, second to the Secretary of Security, South Africa's intelligence chief. He is ex officio the Director of the National Intelligence Bureau and usually reports directly to the State President. Secretary of Security The Secretary of Security (Afrikaans: Sekretaris van Sekuriteit) is the executive official charged with the administration and management of the Security Branch. He is appointed at the leisure of the State President in consultation with the Parliamentary Committee on National Security, of which the State President does not require consent or approval. The current Secretary of Security is SC Vermeulen. The Secretary of Security is widely considered to be the second most powerful person in South Africa, even yet more powerful than the Vice State President. The Secretary is also considered much higher in the order of seniority than any of the other ministers within the executive government, with the Security Branch having almost unlimited authority over any other cabinet departments, with the exception of the Minister and Department of Defense. The Secretary is directly responsible for the Civil Cooperation Bureau, and acts ex officio as its director. State Security Council The State Security Council (SSC) (Afrikaans: Staatssekuriteitsraad, SSR) was initially established under State President in the 1980s but has since been reformed under the presidencies of ST Dussen and JD Grobler. The SSC's core function is to advise the government on formulating and executing national security policy. Under Botha, the State President himself chaired the Council, however that role has been delegated to the Secretary of Security. The Council has a full time staff of around 200 officials from within mainly the Security Branch and the Defense Force, and supporting staff from other departments. The SSC consists of four divisions: *Division for Strategy and Planning *Strategic Communications Division *National Intelligence Interpretation Division, and *Administration Division Subsidiary entities *South African Police Force (SAPF) *Civil Cooperation Bureau (CCB) *Correctional Services Bureau (CSB) *National Intelligence Bureau (NIB) See also *Government of South Africa *South African Defense Force Category:RSA-SWM